Terry EnglandObservations on science fiction, writing, life and whatnot

Posts tagged “Walter Jon Williams”

The old world goes away and the new one comes in with strife, terror and death …

These days, that seems to be the only story, told well or poorly. One of the better ones, though — one with depth, complex and emotional characters, incredible details from the food the characters eat to the armor they wear to the lands they travel through — is The Change series by S.M. Stirling

Back in 1998, Nantucket Island was suddenly whisked off to Bronze Age Europe. That was the start, three books worth, but then Stirling turned his attention to a part of the world that was left behind, and thus began the Emberverse Series. That started in 2004 with Dies the Fire and has continued through ten more books with the 12th, The Desert and the Blade, due in September. What happened to the world wasn’t pretty — electricity stopped flowing, steam power lost its punch, explosives lost their bang and internal combustion engines stalled forever — and the books have chronicled how a real post-modern history has unfolded with the rise and fall of kingdoms, petty tyrants and religious fanatics (with a real edge to them). And underneath it all, good people trying to find answers and create new societies.

Though Stirling gave us a peek at some of the rest of the U.S. — his characters had to traverse the continent on a quest, after all — and some hints about the rest of the world (hint: Prince Charles does not come off very well), he, like any author building new worlds, has to limit his scope in order to keep the story on track. So he generously opened his world to other writers, asking them to write short stories, setting them wherever they liked as long as the rules of the universe are followed.

The result is The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth (ROC, $27.95). Fifteen authors telling 16 stories (Stirling tells one of his own) in several places around the globe, including Florida, California, New Mexico, Nebraska, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Canada, Australia and Greek galleys battling it out in the Mediterranean,

Perhaps you’ve heard about the fight between Hachette book group and Amazon.com about pricing on e-books. Amazon is putting the screws to Hachette by not accepting pre-orders or delaying shipping of print books from that publisher. Hachette, like most other corporations these days, is made up of several (relatively) smaller publishers, of which a couple publish books by two colleagues from my New Mexico days.

Walter Jon Williams is the author of many books, including Hardwired, KnightMoves, AngelStation, DaysofAtonement, Aristoi, Metropolitan, ImpliedSpaces, the “Dread Empire’s Fall” series (ThePraxis, TheSundering, ConventionsofWar and Investments, a separate novel set in the Empire’s Fall universe) and his latest works based on social media, ThisisNotaGame, DeepState and TheFourthWall. Those last three are affected because they’re published by Orbit, one of those smaller publishers. Walter is an excellent writer. He’s also a smart, gregarious fellow, as you’ll find out if you go to his web page. There you will also find links to his out-of-print-made-into-ebooks, short-story collections and novellas.

James S.A. Corey is an amalgam of two writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who paired up for “The Expanse” series, LeviathanWakes, Caliban’sWar, Abaddon’sGate and the new novel, CibolaBurn, coming out this summer. The series has impressed critics and hit the NY Times bestseller list and the first one has been picked up by SyFy channel for a series. These books also are among those caught up in the argument.

Now, it’s not like you can’t get these books at all. Barnes and Noble is still in business, and they have a web site, too. Plus, there’s all sorts of independent bookstores that have managed to survive the online revolution so far, and I’d recommend you patronize your nearest one if you want these (or any other) books. Wal-Mart is reporting a jump in book sales, too, so there’s another option.And I can’t really shed much of a tear for the big publishers; sometimes the way they treat writers borders on criminal. The Corey duo and Williams aren’t going to be hurt that much from this because they’re established and known writers, but as the Coreys point out on their blog, writers with smaller followings or those starting out could be hit kind of hard. After all, Amazon makes it so easy to buy a book. Click and boom!, a couple days later there’s your purchase.

I’ve used Amazon many times; I’ve bought all the Corey book that way. This last Christmas, I bought several gifts from the company. Now, though, I’m not buying anything from Amazon until they stop being jerks. They’re trying to bully Hachette into meeting their demands, but they’re doing it on the backs of the writers. (Why is it everyone hates the writers and creators? Publishers, movie studios, merchandisers, and now Amazon — always stomping on the people who bring them profits.) Maybe Amazon will win this one. And maybe I’ll never use them again.

So be it.

(Sorry, Walter, but I am not clicking on that video of those identical roller-skating, accordion-playing sub-debs singing polkas from hell or anywhere else. Not going to do it, uh-uh, nope, no way. Your nightmares will remain your own, so stay out of mine, thank you.)

The Tyranny of Heroes

If superheroes had the power to rule the world, would they? Should they? The Tyranny of Heroes explores the possibilities. The Supers become essentially dictators, although that wasn't their plan. Opponents to their rule are jailed and suppressed; for Mark Manfred, he's risking his own family. But there are questions he must answer about himself, his father and grandfather and their relationship to the Supers. The answers, though, might more dangerous to him than expected -- but they might be just as dangerous to the Supers. Available as an e-book from: Amazon.com Barnes and Noble

Rewind

A common wish—"If I could only do it all over again"—comes true for a group of humans after a visit from aliens. But wishes can turn into nightmares as the affected humans try to adjust to being children again and the people around them must confront their own responses—and fears. -------------------------- Available in e-book formats at Open Source Media (www.opensourcemedia.com) in paperback, kindle, ePub and more

The game is afoot

The game I helped write the narrative for, "Revolution Ace," is available now through the Steam website (steampowered.com) for PCs and iTunes for iPad and iPhone versions. "Ace" is the first video game from new company Laser Guided Games. It's a top-down shoot-em-up developed by founder Matt Oelfke, a former Epic Games/Unreal Senior Programmer and Designer who worked on the "Unreal Tournament" and "Gears of War" series. For more information, visit the company's website, http://laserguidedgames.com.